CHRIS DODD UPDATE: Secret Countrywide Phone Tapes Destroyed:

The discovery that Countrywide Financial Corp. recorded phone conversations with borrowers in a controversial mortgage program that included public officials — and that those recordings have been destroyed — has prompted new congressional calls for more information about the program.

Rep. Darrell Issa of California, the ranking Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is trying to subpoena the remaining records of Countrywide’s VIP loan program. So far, the committee’s chairman, New York Democratic Rep. Edolphus Towns, has turned down that request. . . . Among the prominent VIP program borrowers were two Democratic senators, Chris Dodd of Connecticut and Kent Conrad of North Dakota. Both men have denied wrongdoing, and said they never asked for favorable loan terms from Countrywide. . . .

In August, The Wall Street Journal reported that Mr. Towns, the oversight committee chairman, had received two mortgages from Countrywide — one on his home in Brooklyn and the other on a house in Florida. The loan documents indicated that both had been processed through the VIP unit. At the time, a Towns spokeswoman said his decision not to subpoena the VIP records had “nothing to do with his mortgages.” If the mortgages, which were originated in 2003, came through the VIP unit, Mr. Towns was unaware of that fact and never asked for special treatment, the spokeswoman said.

Sure is convenient that those tapes are gone. . . .

FROM THE ALWAYS CALM FRANK J. FLEMING: “Advice to liberals about how to calm down those dangerous, racist, angry, fire-breathing right-wingers.”

CANADIANS PUSH FOR PRIVATE OPTION: “Whereas U.S. healthcare is predominantly a private system paid for by private insurers, things in Canada tend toward the other end of the spectrum: A universal, government-funded health system is only beginning to flirt with private-sector medicine.” (Via American Power).

GORDON CROVITZ: You Commit Three Felonies a Day: Laws have become too vague and the concept of intent has disappeared. I would restore — and strengthen — the distinction between malum prohibitum and malum in se too.

Inspired by Harvey Silverglate’s book, I had some related thoughts here.

BYRON YORK: Iran smolders, Afghanistan burns, and Obama heads to…Denmark.

More here.

BELDAR ON Congress reading the legislation it votes on.

MAX BOOT: Obama Can’t Downsize to Success in Afghanistan.

ANDREW BREITBART: Podesta Spends Soros’ Money Stupidly.

ERIC S. RAYMOND: Mighty Aches From Little ACORN’s Fall.

DAVID BARON CALL YOUR OFFICE: Bears invade Aspen. Moe Lane notes a pattern. It’s something I’ve written about before.

SO DOES THIS Roman Polanski conflict of interest make a difference?

OBAMA’S AFGHANISTAN PROBLEM: “Obama will buck public opinion if it is for a liberal-base issue, such as health care and cap-and-trade. But his problem on Afghanistan is that it is both unpopular with the public and an anathema to his base. Moderates and conservatives will support him on Afghanistan, since they think stabilizing the country is necessary, humane, and doable, but they are those whom he has so far ostracized and caricatured on other issues, and may not wish to reach out to. So his options and time are limited.”

Related: Frank Rich, Afghan War Hypocrite. “We are experiencing a festival of liberal hypocrisy on the Afghan war, as all the left-wing doves who touted the war as absolutely essential for years back off now that it’s no longer a politically convenient war. . . . So when did circumstances change? When did al Qaeda basically leave Afghanistan so the Taliban is the real worry there and the chief home of the terror group is Pakistan? If you read Rich literally, it must have been sometime between August and today, because Obama didn’t just come to the presidency saying Afghanistan is a necessary war, he said it at the VFW last month. But circumstances changed? Again, when?” When it was convenient, of course. Once again, we must distinguish between “bourgeois truth,” which is concerned with sterile facts, and “revolutionary truth,” which is concerned with what will promote the revolution. Rich clearly has transcended mere bourgeois truth. . . .

RASMUSSEN: Support for ObamaCare Hits New Low: “Just 41% of voters nationwide now favor the health care reform proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats. That’s down two points from a week ago and the lowest level of support yet measured. . . . Senior citizens are less supportive of the plan than younger voters. In the latest survey, just 33% of seniors favor the plan while 59% are opposed. The intensity gap among seniors is significant. Only 16% of the over-65 crowd Strongly Favors the legislation while 46% are Strongly Opposed.”

ANN ALTHOUSE thinks the NYT is lying. “They had to be lying. I’d prefer to think they were lying. How could they be that out of the loop? It takes 2 seconds to glance at Drudge and Memeorandum. If you have any interest in current events, it’s harder not to do than to do.”

Related: Welcome to the jungle.

BANK OF AMERICA turns on ACORN.

DRUDGE: “A local TV station that reported on Chicagoans NOT wanting the Olympics has been told NOT to run the report again, insiders tell the DRUDGE REPORT! The Chicago Olympic Committee told FOX Chicago that its broadcast “would harm Chicago’s chances” to be awarded the games.”

MICKEY KAUS: Elizabeth Edwards, Blog Mystery Woman?